Boeing to Increase Production Next Year to Make Up for Strike : Aerospace: Boost will be first since 1992, when worldwide demand for new planes dwindled.

Boeing Co. said Tuesday that it will boost production late next year to meet surging demand for new airplanes and to make up for a 10-week strike that hobbled production at the world’s largest maker of commercial aircraft.

Many analysts said they expected the increase because Boeing has received so many new orders for planes. Boeing customers this year have placed orders for 255 new jets worth $18 billion, more than double 1994’s orders for 120 planes.

The increase is the first since 1992, when worldwide demand for new planes dwindled, forcing production cuts at Boeing.

“This is good news,” said Paul Nisbet, an analyst at JSA Research in Newport, R.I. “We’re finally starting to see orders spill through and push up the production rate.”

Investors endorsed Boeing’s move, driving the company’s share price up $2.50 to $75.375, just below its all-time high of $76.50 set last Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Boeing’s announcement came five days after the end of a 69-day strike by the machinists union, which overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year contract that provides them with additional wages and medical coverage, along with pledges to ensure their job security. The union represents more than 32,500 Boeing production workers.

Boeing said it will increase production of its Boeing 737s to 8 1/2 from seven each month in the fourth quarter of 1996. It had planned to cut production of the plane to five a month starting in April.

Production of other jets, including Boeing’s new 777, will accelerate as well. Boeing said it will produce 3 1/2 777s a month in the third quarter of 1996, then boost the rate to five a month in early 1997.

“This is a positive sign to see the beginning of an upswing in production rates,” said Ron Woodard, president of the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group. “Moreover, it . . . underscores the positive long-term outlook for our industry.”

Even with the increase, Boeing’s production will remain well below the peak it reached in 1992, when the company made a record 441 planes. Analysts said they expect Boeing to build 230 to 260 planes in 1996, up from about 205 this year.

Production suffered this year after members of the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, representing a third of Boeing’s work force, walked off the job. Union members began returning to work last week.

Boeing said production levels will return to prestrike levels of about 20 planes a month during the first quarter of next year to 22.5 in the fourth quarter of 1996 and 24 in early 1997. It also said it is notifying suppliers to reduce their output temporarily to reduce the buildup of parts and materials that accumulated during the strike.